The Chesterfield Kings - Psychedelic Sunrise (2007) Wicked Cool Record Co.
Original release date: - Sept 18, 2007
Total Time - 39:53
Track listing:
1. Sunrise (Turn On) 3:09
2. Rise and Fall 3:49
3. Streaks and Flashes 3:06
4. Elevator Ride 3:58
5. Up and Down 3:32
6. Inside Looking Out 3:11
7. Spanish Sun 3:22
8. Outtasite! 3:04
9. Stayed Too Long 3:32
10. Gone 3:37
11. Yesterday's Sorrows 3:30
12. Dawn 1:58
All songs by Greg Prevost and Andy Babiuk, except
Greg Prevost - lead vocals, harmonica, guitar, Mellotron, violin, maracas, saxophone,
Hammond B3, tambourine, claves, castanets, backing vocals
Andy Babiuk - bass, baritone guitar, zoom bass, sitar, tamboua, Biuou dulcimer acoustic guitar, fuzz bass, Autoharp, backing vocals
Mike Boise - drums, tabla, maracas, tambourine, castanets, claves, Theremin
Paul Morabito - lead guitar, acoustic guitar, Rickenbacker 12-string, piano, organ, zither,
electric mandolin, tape effects, backing vocals
Additional Personnel:
Little Steven - Hammond B3, Vox organ, acoustic guitar, fuzz bass
Paul Nunes - piano, Hammond B3, Box organ, Harpsichord
Lynn Rubter-Capron - first and second violin
Cheryl Frank - viola
Kathryn Fittipaldi - cello
Ripped by me with EAC, directly from the factory-pressed silver CD, using secure mode/accurate stream/no C2
Compressed with Flac - level8
File size - 301 MB
Genre - psychedelic rock
Art - Complete included; covers, inside, disc
The Chesterfield Kings is a rock band from Rochester, New York, which began as a
retro-1960s garage band, and which has heavily mined the underside of 1960s music,
including some borrowings from the 1960s Rolling Stones. Core members are former Distorted
Level singer, underground music journalist and avid record collector Greg Prevost and Andy
Babiuk (16 years old at the time of the band's founding); others have come and gone. The
band, named after a defunct brand of unfiltered cigarette, was instrumental in sparking the
1980s garage band revival.
History
The early Kings were a late-1970s recreation of a mid-1960s garage band sound. Their
self-released first single (Living Eye Records, LSD-1) was a cover of The Brogues' 1965 "I
Ain't No Miracle Worker" b/w The Heard's 1967 "Exit 9." In a deliberate effort to create
their own rare garage-band collectible singles, only 500 copies were pressed.
Their first broader public exposure came when a track on Greg Shaw's 1981 Bomp! Records
compilation Battle of the Garage netted them a series of dates at the Peppermint Lounge in
New York City. They continued with this 60s garage sound through the mid-1980s, releasing
two albums—Here are the Chesterfield Kings (1982) was entirely covers, and Stop! (1985)
introduced their first originals—then turned to a harder-edged rock sound for Don't Open
Till Doomsday (1987), which Piero Scaruffi describes as "uninspired and confused," and
Berlin Wall of Sound (1989), featuring the blues guitar work of new band member Paul Rocco,
followed by an acoustic blues record Drunk On Muddy Water (1990).
Their Let's Go Get Stoned (1994) is a mix of slightly post-Aftermath Stones covers and
worthy originals in the Stones' style. Surfin' Rampage (1997) showed that they were fully
capable of pop harmonies; Where the Action Is (1999) was a return to garage band roots, a
mix of covers and 1960s-styled originals.
The Mindbending Sounds of the Chesterfield Kings (2003) pays tribute to the more baroque
side of the 1960s underground, evoking at times the sound of the Electric Prunes
("Transparent Life", "Disconnection"), and featuring appearances by Jorma Kaukonen on two
tracks.
The Kings' full-length feature film Where is the Chesterfield King? (2000) is described on
their web site as "A comedy/drama in the vein of The Bowery Boys, Batman, The Monkees Show,
A Hard Day's Night, Hawaiian Eye, and The Munsters, with a little Three Stooges slapstick
to boot…"
Personnel:
* Greg Prevost (lead vocals, multi-instrumentalist 1979–current)
* Andy Babiuk (bass, multi-instrumentalist 1979–current)
* Orest Guran (organ, guitar, 1979–1986)
* Richard Cona (lead guitar 1979–c.1987)
* Doug Meech (drummer 1979–c.1988)
* Walt O'Brien (guitar, organ, 1986-1987)
* Paul Rocco (guitar 1990-1995)
* Brett Reynolds (drums 1990-?)
* Kris Hadlock (drums 1994-1995)
* Jeff Okolowicz (guitar 1995-1999)
* Ted Okolowicz (guitar 1995-1999)
* Paul Morabito (guitar 1999–current)
* Mike Boise (drums, percussion 1995–current)
Partial discography
Albums
* Here are the Chesterfield Kings (1982, Mirror Records MR-9, 14-song LP)
* Stop! (1985, Mirror Records MR-10, 12-song LP; also remastered 14-song LP and
cassette MR-10R)
* Don't Open Till Doomsday (1987, Mirror Records MR-12, 14-song LP, 15-song cassette)
* Night of The Living Eyes (1989, Mirror Records MR-13, 14-song LP/CD/cassette); early compilation of early singles and rarities.
* Berlin Wall of Sound (1989, Mirror Records MR-15, 15-song CD/cassette, 14-song LP)
* Drunk On Muddy Water (1990, Mirror Records MCD-16, 13-song limited edition CD)
* Let's Go Get Stoned (1994, Mirror Records MR-19); several sources inaccurately give
the title as Let's Get Stoned; 14-song LP, CD, and cassette).
* Surfin' Rampage (1997, Mirror Records M-23, 32-song double LP and CD)
* Trippin' Out (1997, Impossible Records (Spain), 6-song 10-inch disc)
* Where the Action Is (1999, Sundazed LSD 13, 17-song CD)
Chesterfield Kings; not in official discography.
* The Mindbending Sounds of… (Living Eye / Sundazed, 2003; 14-song CD, 12 song LP)
* The Mindbending Sounds of… (Wicked Cool Records, 2006; 14-song CD)
* Psychedelic Sunrise… (Wicked Cool Records, 2007; 12-song CD)
Bootlegs
* Johnny Thunders and the Chesterfield Kings
* Fossils
* Kingsize Rock 'n' Roll
* Long Ago, Far Away (Paisley Zipper Band)
Review of Psychedelic Sunrise from the Rock and Roll Report:
One of the best psych rock albums ever, created this year. Go figure! Chesterfield Kings - Psychedelic Sunrise
Chesterfield Kings - Psychedelic Sunrise
Wicked Cool Records
It’s “wicked cool” indeed whenever someone with influence decides to help out a deserving rock and roll band which has been toiling in the trenches for years, earning rave reviews and converting everyone they play in front of into rabid fans. God bless Bruce Springsteen’s right-hand man and Soprano’s goodfella Miami Steve Van Zandt for starting his popular Underground Garage radio show a few years ago. Since then, a mini garage/freakbeat/psych-rock revolution has begun and both new bands and veterans like The Chesterfield Kings have benefited. It’s truly fitting the band is finally seeing their records in the large record stores and having reviews posted in the glossy magazines and on major websites as they deserve it for slogging it out for years and staying true to their musical vision.
Originating out of upstate New York in the late ’70’s, the band combated the growing punk/new-wave scene by creating a fierce R&B sound reminiscent of the mid-’60’s icons The Rolling Stones and The Kinks. In fact, the band once had an official credo never to have their music sound like it was made after 1966. After their first couple of albums, however, the once-four-piece band was whittled down to two members - Greg Prevost and Andy Babiuk - and a little bit of a style change was in the offing. Not that they have strayed too far from their original mission. After gathering a few more like-minded souls to fill the void left by the defections of the other band members, Prevost and Babiuk continued with their garage rock/British R&B sound and have kept the flame of their fierce garage rock burning ever since. During this time they have matured from mere regurgitators (albeit great ones) to gifted songwriters. While some may dismiss their sound as a genre exercise, upon closer inspection a true music lover will realize they have taken the classic blueprint and have managed to create their own artistic statements. Their love for the 60’s garage/R&B sound is so passionate it cannot be dismissed as pure revivalism - the band makes their music purely, honestly and with plenty of love - the true ingredients of real art. The band is the real deal and if any of their albums were to prove how fantastic their music is, it is their newest.
Since the Chesterfield Kings have pretty much been chasing the Rolling Stones ever since the Kinks’ first album way back in 1983, you could call this latest musical salvo an attempt to come up with a better psychedelic album than the Stones’ Satanic Majesties. That the band manages to best their idols is not an attempt to bring up the now-cliched familiar knocks on the Stones’ album. In retrospect, Satanic Majesties was a decent attempt to take Jagger’s and Richards’ slant on R&B and add some acid-rock to the mix. It’s just that the Glimmer Twins were too steeped in the blues to take their music too far “out” to begin with. Their album was too tame, an accusation The Chesterfield Kings won’t have to deal with, as this album is pretty fucking wild. Filled with the greasy sort of rock and roll Jagger probably wishes he could still make (and Richards would no doubt drool over) the band creates their best album yet, no mean feat for a band together for near thirty years. My personal fave “Up and Down” is the best Stones songs the band never made.
Fans of vintage psychedelic rock from the ’60’s are going to love this album for many reasons, not the least of which is the production. Sounding as if it was recorded in the the mid ’60’s, the band (which has always specialized in this kind of sound - check out their other discs if you can find them, all are testaments to the power of freakbeat, psyche and garage rock) has created one of the best psychedelic rock albums of all time, some 37 years after psychedelic rock first started. Go figure. Like the vintage cigarette the band took it’s name from, this album smokes!
Scott Homewood
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